Phillies avoid steroids issue, By: Michael Radano

Friday, June 1, 2007

Brett Myers couldn't believe what was going on around him.

Myers looked bewildered as he sat at his locker with an ice pack on his shoulder after countless stretching exercises and conditioning drills for his right shoulder.

Around the Phillies' clubhouse, questions were being asked about Barry Bonds, who will arrive with the San Francisco Giants tonight for a four-game series against the Phillies.

"Why is everyone asking about Bonds?" Myers asked in his normal bombastic manner. "It's not like he's going to hit nine home runs."

Myers had a point, but the questions still needed to be asked.

Bonds is making his only trip to Citizens Bank Park this year and remains nine home runs shy of Hank Aaron's 755 career total.

The assault on the record has been met with some criticism and skepticism. While Bonds hasn't tested positive for steroids, many strongly believe he took the enhancing substance.

While several players decline to even talk about Bonds, the overwhelming feeling remains he's one of the best players ever.

"That's not my place," Michael Bourn said of the steroids issue. "I won't comment on that. I will say he still had to hit the ball. What he's accomplished is pretty amazing and he's obviously worked hard to get where he is."

Along with Ken Griffey Jr., Bonds was one of the elite players in the 1990s before the steroids cloud even drifted into place. There remains a certain respect for his ability to put the ball in play as much as he did.

"It's really unfair to compare him to another generation of players," said Geoff Geary, who smiled when asked because as a right-handed reliever, he most likely doesn't have to face Bonds. "Each generation plays the same game, but a different game. Travel, equipment, specialty players and on and on. If you take Bonds and put him against the players he's played against, you understand what a great player he is and that he's one of the best all-time."

"It's a big record to go after but it's hard to really compare different time periods," center fielder Aaron Rowand said. "The only fair thing to do is compare someone to the players at the time he played."

But the steroids cloud will never go away and that will leave a bad taste in some mouths for generations to come.

"That's not my call," Ryan Howard said. "He's put up incredible numbers even though most of the time he wasn't given anything to hit. He's one of the game's greats and that's all I have to say about it."